Outcast, Yet Not Alone
by Kasigi Omi
Summary: Marron feels left out. What he doesn't know is that someone else does too, and with better reason.


Outcast, Yet Not Alone  
  
  
  
Marron glanced up from his book as he saw the girls and his brother heading out the door. "Where are you going?"  
  
Chocolat stopped giggling long enough to answer him. "To a party."  
  
"Who is having a party?"  
  
"Oregano," Tira replied.  
  
"You remember him, right Marron?" Carrot asked. "We all used to hang out when we were little."  
  
"I remember," Marron replied quietly. "Tell him I said 'hello'."  
  
"Sure thing! Bye!" Chocolat waved and pushed Carrot out the door. Tira lingered, not quite trusting the way Marron had averted his eyes, but then she followed the other two out the door.  
  
After they were gone, Marron closed his book and cried.  
  
  
  
Gateau was taking a nice walk, enjoying the spring weather, when he heard a quiet sob coming from somewhere nearby. He looked around, but could find no one, so he continued on. Then he spotted it, out of the corner of his eye. A white leg dangling from a tree branch.  
  
He approached cautiously, only mildly surprised to see that the leg belonged to Marron, who was sitting in a large oak tree. The shock came when he realized Marron was crying.  
  
"Marron?" he asked gently, approaching the tree.  
  
Marron's head shot up, those bright golden eyes shining with tears. "Gateau!"  
  
"Are you okay, Marron?" the blond persisted, coming up to the tree and resting his hands on the branch Marron was sitting on, looking up at the raven haired beauty.  
  
"I'm fine," Marron sniffled, looking surprisingly young. It suddenly hit Gateau that the poor thing was only sixteen. Marron always carried himself like he was so much older, and stronger. Somehow, it was an immense shock to see Marron acting like a hurt and lost little boy.  
  
"I doubt you're fine," Gateau replied, tentatively touching Marron's leg in a comforting gesture. "Unless you find sitting on uncomfortable tree branches and crying normal behavior for you."  
  
Despite his pain, Marron had to chuckle at that. Gateau took this as a good sign, and tugged on Marron's pants leg. "Why don't you come down from there and talk to me? I promise I won't hit on you."  
  
Knowing how private Marron was, Gateau was exceedingly surprised when Marron nodded and hopped out of the tree, walking a little way off, before sitting in the grass and glancing back at Gateau. Taking the invitation, Gateau strode over and sat beside him. "So, what's wrong?" he prodded.  
  
Marron shook his head, not so much to deny that anything was wrong, as to clear his head. "I'm.. an outcast, even among my friends," Marron finally sighed.  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"I mean, my brother and the girls went to a party today, that I wasn't invited to."  
  
"So? You're not very social. You don't like parties. Besides, you probably don't know the person, so they would have felt awkward asking you along." Gateau shrugged. This comforting Marron business just might be easy, if he could use a little logic!  
  
"Ah, but that's the thing," Marron smiled bitterly at him, before averting his eyes. "I do know this person. We all grew up together. Oregano, the boy having the party, and I used to be very good friends. Then as we grew older, we grew apart. He still invited me to things every once in a while, but when I went I felt like I didn't belong. Like they didn't really want me there. This is the first time that I have been outright excluded." He shook his head sadly. "The real irony here is, I knew him first. He met the other three through me. Now they're going out without me."  
  
Perhaps this wouldn't be so easy, Gateau decided. "You feel like you're what? Unloved? Unwanted?"  
  
Marron nodded and added, "Like I don't belong."  
  
"Hah!" Gateau exclaimed. Marron looked at him and Gateau's gaze softened. "It's just that I feel like that every day."  
  
"Oh?" Marron raised an eyebrow.  
  
"Yeah. I mean, come on. I travel with you four. You grew up together! Hell! You were all raised in the same household as siblings! I'm just that guy that Big Mama assigned to work with you. I don't really belong. I see you four together, the air of comfort you all have around you, and I get jealous. I don't have that kind of close bond with anyone! Okay, so you feel hurt and left out. Fine. At least you know you have your brother and the girls, right? You know for a fact that if Tira, or the other two for that matter, knew you were this upset, they wouldn't leave you alone!"  
  
"I see. Yes," Marron sighed, remembering the worried look Tira had shot him before she left. "They do care. I do have people that I know care for me unconditionally."  
  
"That's something I don't have," Gateau pointed out. "I don't have anyone. I'm an outcast."  
  
Marron's next action surprised him more than any of the other events of the afternoon. The smaller young man suddenly scooted over and wrapped his arms around Gateau, resting his head on his shoulder. "An outcast, but not alone," he assured him.  
  
Gateau didn't know if Marron was offering romantic love, friendship or a form of brotherhood, but at the moment he didn't really care. And in that moment, they both realized that no matter how lost and unwanted they may feel from time to time, they weren't alone. Someone would always care. 


End file.
